Eurobarometer: Cypriots distrust political parties, tend to trust the army more than other institutions

Almost nine out of ten Cypriots say that they do not trust the political parties and point to the army as their most trusted institution, according to the Autumn 2019 Eurobarometer results for the Republic of Cyprus.

Asked which the institutions and Media people trust more, the army comes first in people’s replies with 62% and is followed by the police with 52% and television with 48% (although the percentage of those who say they distrust television is higher, with 49%).

At the same time, 87% of Cypriots say they don’t trust political parties, 66% distrust the government and 63% the parliament.

Also, 46% of those surveyed say they are happy about the way democracy works in Cyprus, compared to 54% on average in the 28 EU member states who say the same about their countries. Furthermore, 37% of Cypriots and 42% of European say the EU has a positive image. Most Cypriots (56%) and Europeans (58%) note that they are optimistic about the EU future.

Also, most Cypriots and European say that the most positive outcomes of the EU are peace among member states and freedom of movement.

The majority of the Cypriots taking part in the survey say things head to the wrong direction (55%) compared to 25% who believe the opposite.

When it comes to key policy areas, the majority of Cypriots and Europeans are in favor of free movement for EU citizens. In descending order, Cypriots are also in favour of the common defence and security policy, common energy policy, common trade policy and common foreign policy.

Also, most of those surveyed in Cyprus and the EU28 believe that the existence of news or information that misrepresent reality, or is even false, is a problem for democracy in general.

The survey was conducted between November 14 and 28, 2019, before Brexit, in a sample of 505 residing in the free areas of the Republic of Cyprus.

The views of the Turkish Cypriot community

According to the Eurobarometer survey, the majority of Turkish Cypriots, or 55%, judge the economic situation in their community to be bad, while 38% say they expect the economy to stay in the same condition for the next 12 months. 22% expect the economic situation to improve in a year.

Turkish Cypriots believe that rising prices and the economic situation are the most important issues facing their community and personally themselves.

50% of those surveyed say they trust the EU, compared to 40% who say the opposite. Trust is slightly higher, in comparison to the Spring 2019 Eurobarometer, while distrust fell by 6%.

Eurobarometer results were presented on Wednesday at the EU House, in Nicosia.